


Better than Drinking Alone

by MoyashiRaita



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Gen, Missing Girlfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoyashiRaita/pseuds/MoyashiRaita
Summary: When you’ve lost someone, you’ll find more people who’ve suffered the same.Usually, though, you don’t find someone who’s also fallen for a Jedi -- and a soldier, at that.Post-TSL





	Better than Drinking Alone

The ale in this particular bar wasn’t good for a party, but it was good for forgetting.

 

Atton took another swig of the brownish liquid and grimaced, staring down at his cards. Nobody was sitting across from him, but that didn’t stop him playing. The only person who could have done that was long gone. Didn’t even leave a note.

 

He took another swig. He shouldn’t have expected anything else. When she’d suggested — with those big, blue eyes of hers — that they head to Coruscant for a few days, see how the others were getting along rebuilding the Jedi Order there, he’d ignored the feeling in the pit of his stomach.

 

Figured she’d leave his extra stuff in a port locker and take off to Force knows where. Somewhere in the Uncharted Regions. Or beyond. He couldn’t remember.

 

She’d not even taken T3 or HK. Both were extremely annoyed. One because he had the way back from...wherever _there_  was. The other because... well, violence was apparently likely.

 

“Need someone to play with?” A male voice was somewhere in front of him. Atton waved towards the empty chair and scooped up his extra cards, setting it up for an actual game.

 

“What brings you to this grimy dump?” His voice was slightly slurred. Whatever. He could use the Force to purge his system later.

 

Or maybe he’d have another drink.

 

“Same as you, I’d think.”

 

Atton sniggered. “You lose a girl too?”

 

“Two, actually.”

 

Atton raised his head. The man sitting across from him was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place the face at the moment. Really, all he could tell was that he had brown hair and a slumped posture. The alcohol must be working.

 

“How’d you manage that?” Atton drew his first card, a five.

 

“One died a long time ago. The other... well, she had something she had to do. So she left.”

 

Atton raised his glass. “So you had your girl run out on you as well. Welcome to the club, friend.”

 

The other man eyed the glass, even as he drew a card. “How much have you had?”

 

“Not enough.” Atton drew another card. “Not enough.”

 

The man nodded slightly and drew another card. Atton looked down at the table. He had 14. The other man had 19.

 

“I’ll hold.” He said, glancing over his hand.

 

“I’m not.” Atton drew another card. 20. “Looks like this round is mine.”

 

“I guess so. So tell me about your girl.” The other man reshuffled the pazaak cards and drew one. Eight.

 

“She got me out of a bad place. I couldn’t have cared less what happened to me when she found me. Of course, she was in her underwear.” Atton snickered, but then fell silent. “She saved me. She forgave me. I’m a Jedi now, apparently. Pretty poor one though.” He downed the last of his glass and motioned for another. He looked at the man across from him. Either there was something about him, or he had consumed more alcohol than he’d thought. “What’s your story?”

 

The other man chuckled and sighed. “Pretty much like yours, honestly. Except for the underwear bit, and the fact that I’m about as force-sensitive as a rock. She never let me forget that, being a Jedi herself.”

 

Atton nodded and downed half his new drink in one gulp. “We had to fall for the same type. Jedi generals are their own special sort.”

 

The other man looked at him curiously. “How’d you know she was a soldier?”

 

Atton shrugged. “You must have said.”

 

“No, I just said she was a Jedi.”

 

“Well… only Jedi I’ve ever seen defy their code were the ones who would fight.”

 

“You’ve not seen as much of them as I have, then.”

 

“Oh, I’ve seen plenty.” Atton drank again. The pazaak game was long forgotten. “Don’t even remember why she thought I’d make a good one. Stupid.” He punched the table in front of him, making the empty glasses rattle.

 

“Okay, you’ve had enough.” The other man pulled Atton’s drink away from him. Atton didn’t even bother to try and keep it.

 

“Went off without anyone. Said she had to look for her commander. Said she knew she was in trouble. Said ‘Revan needed h—”

 

“Revan?”

 

Atton nodded vigorously. “Yep. Revan. Dark Lord turned hero of the republic, destroyed the Star Forge, all that. Inyri wouldn’t stop talking about her, there at the end. I should have known. Hey, what’s up with you?”

 

The other man had slumped back in his chair. He grabbed the glass he’d taken away from Atton and downed the rest. “I think I need a drink now.”

 

Atton shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Stuff here is terrible.”

 

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

 

“I know what I am. But hey... hey, you never introduced yourself.”

 

The other man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose I didn’t. Name’s Carth.”

 

Atton stared at him a moment before his eyes opened wide. “Carth... Onasi? Republic pilot? _Admiral_?”

 

Carth nodded. “The one and only. But I’m just Carth right now.”

 

Atton leaned back and whistled. “You lost Shaelaa.” He stated. Everyone knew that Carth and Shaelaa — the former Revan — had been a thing for a few years until she disappeared, leaving behind a three-year-old daughter… and Carth himself.

 

Carth nodded again, staring at the table. 

 

“I lost the one everyone called Exile.” Atton stated, bluntly. “You chased us across half the galaxy.”

 

Carth raised his head. “You must be Atton Rand, then.”

 

“At your service.” Atton mock bowed from his chair. 

 

“So you’re here trying to forget Inyri and I’m here to mourn Shaelaa. What a pair of fools we make, huh?”

 

“Everyone calls me that.”

 

“Calls you what?”

 

“A fool. Least, the old witch did.”

 

“I think anyone’s a fool who sits here drinking because the woman he loved had a bigger destiny than just him.”

 

Atton stood up. “You want to repeat that?”

 

Carth raised an eyebrow. “Careful. ‘Emotion is the path to the dark side,’ or something like that.”

 

Atton flopped back down. “You’ve gotten the same lecture, I see. Jedi and their stupid code.”

 

“You’re a Jedi.”

 

“I killed Jedi.”

 

“I know. That’s what your file said. It also said you’d changed.”

 

“File?” Atton raised an eyebrow.

 

Carth rubbed the back of his head. “So... I actually have a confession to make.”

 

“Well, spit it out.”

 

“I got a communication about a week ago. The Exile sent me a file and probable locations for you. She asked me to find you and keep you from doing anything ‘stupid and irresponsible.’ Her words, not mine.”

 

“A week... that’s when she left.”

 

Carth nodded. “Basti... Master Shan, confirmed that she’d left. I knew what I was like when Shaelaa left. I figured you’d be the same, since I was given a list of bars I might find you at, if you weren’t on Nar Shaddaa.”

 

Atton rubbed his eyes. “Why didn’t she just tell me where she was going?”

 

“You want my guess? One pilot to another?”

 

Atton just stared at the table. Carth continued.

 

“I think wherever they’re going, they know we’d follow them. We’d risk finding the hyperspace routes there and insist on rescuing them. We’re good pilots, and they know it. And we’re willing to die for the women we love.” Carth stood up. “Come on. Let’s head back.”

 

Atton frowned for a moment. “I’m not going back to the temple.”

 

Carth chuckled. “The message didn’t say to do that. I’ve got an apartment here in the city. Perks of being an admiral. What do you say to more drinks and chatting about the headstrong women we’re inclined to fall for?”

 

Atton nodded, slowly, and began gathering together his pazaak cards. “It’s better than drinking alone, I guess.” He grabbed his pack and stood up.

 

Carth slung an arm around Atton’s shoulders. “Good man. Now, have you heard about how Shaelaa ended up with HK-47?”

 

Atton shook his head, a smile beginning to tug at his mouth. “Isn’t that the homicidal droid Inyri found in the cargo hold and absolutely insisted on fixing up no matter how many later models attacked us?”

 

Carth chuckled. “The one and the same.”

 

“Both our girlfriends were crazy.”

 

“So are we, friend. So are we.”

**Author's Note:**

> I return to fanfic land with... whatever this was. A thought, I guess? I always sort of imagine that if Revan and the Exile are both female that Carth and Atton get together at some point to whine about how they got left behind and become super good buddies because of it. It’s the only thing that makes the thought of both Revan and the Exile abandoning them bearable to me.


End file.
